


Life for Life

by HandmaidenOfHorror



Category: Captive Prince - C. S. Pacat
Genre: Alternate Universe - Vampire, Comes Back Wrong, Dark Laurent (Captive Prince), Deal with a Devil, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-18
Updated: 2020-09-18
Packaged: 2021-03-07 21:15:09
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 715
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26524309
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/HandmaidenOfHorror/pseuds/HandmaidenOfHorror
Summary: Laurent finds a dubious way of bringing Auguste back.
Relationships: Auguste & Laurent (Captive Prince)
Comments: 2
Kudos: 11
Collections: Jump Scare 2020





	Life for Life

**Author's Note:**

  * For [liesmyth](https://archiveofourown.org/users/liesmyth/gifts).



> A very late treat. Sorry, liesmyth, I hope you'll enjoy it nonetheless!

„Can you bring my brother back?” Laurent asked, clutching his bleeding left hand. The cut was deep, and he hoped the spirit will let him go soon or he may bleed to death.

“I can do anything for an appropriate price,” replied the monstrous face in the pool of Laurent’s blood, “and the price must be equivalent to the deed performed – life for life.”

Laurent smiled despite the pain.

“I can think of a person whose life I can give to you.”

***

“It is unlike you to give people surprise presents, Laurent,” his uncle observed, following the youth to his chambers, and Laurent wanted to grind his teeth in disgust, “You should be more careful in your training, though. Perhaps you need to return to using a wooden sword...”

He then stopped, as he felt something wet under his feet. The man winced when he realized he was standing in a pool of blood. He immediately tried to pull away, but he couldn’t. Instead, he felt himself being pulled deeper into the impossible lake of blood.

“Laurent?!” the Regent was terrified, “Laurent, help me!”

Laurent laughed out loud.

“But uncle, this is my gift for you, a sign of my gratitude for everything you have done to me!” he shouted back, seeing the man being pulled deeper and deeper, “If you haven’t, I wouldn’t be able to barter your life for Auguste’s.”

“Lau-“, the man didn’t finish as he was swallowed whole and the pool disappeared.

Laurent waited for a moment.

“Is it done?” he asked.

“It is,” he heard a whisper in his ear, “You will find Auguste in the place he was buried in.”

Laurent ran out of his chambers.

***

He rode out into the night horseback, evading the guards and anyone else. He was desperate to meet Auguste again, to free him from his tomb. Fortunately, the tombs of Veretian royal family were not far from the royal castle, so he managed to ride the whole way without being caught. He was here, he definitely was here! As he ran to the temple, he could hear desperate thumping on the cover of the sarcophagus.

“Don’t worry, Auguste, I’m here!” Laurent shouted, “I’ll free you in a moment!”

All the royal tombs had built-in mechanism allowing to open them from the outside, and Laurent snatched the key on his way. _Why not from the inside_ , Laurent thought, _have no one thought about the possibility of somebody being buried alive?_ But he dropped the line of thought as the sarcophagus started to open.

“Auguste!” Laurent cried out, running towards the opening, and felt himself snatched by a pair of strong pale hands and pulled _inside_. Laurent yelped in surprise, but then he felt a set of sharp _teeth_ tighten around his throat and pierce the skin. _I am about to die_ , was the last thought Laurent had before darkness took him.

***

“Laurent! _Laurent!_ ”

Laurent heard a voice calling his name. It was a familiar voice, a beloved voice. Whose voice was it? Ah-

“Auguste?” Laurent opened his eyes.

“Thank gods you are alive,” Auguste’s eye were filled with tears, dropping freely on his musty and smelly funereal robes, robes stained with blood, _Laurent’s blood_ , “I thought I lost you!”

His brother was alive! What a relief. _Life for life_. Laurent awoke more. They were on the steps leading to the royal tombs and its temple, his throat and his previously injured had expertly bandaged by stripes of his coat, precisely torn. _Oh, Auguste._

“I missed you so much,” Laurent whispered and started crying too. His miraculously returned brother hugged him tightly.

“I don’t know what happened,” Auguste replied through tears, “I must have been buried alive, but how was it possible?”

“It doesn’t matter. What matters is that you are back,” Laurent replied through tears.

“I am so sorry for attacking you while you were rescuing me, I don’t know why, I am the worst brother in the world!” Auguste sobbed, “I wouldn’t be able to live with the guilt of having killed you, Laurent!”

“But I’m alive and so are you,” replied Laurent, “and I forgive you. Even if you did kill me, I’d forgive you.”

They stayed hugged for a while, crying into each other’s arms, until the sun started to rise.

**Author's Note:**

> So, Auguste is a vampire. Thankfully, Laurent knows what vampires are and won't lose Auguste the second time. It would however be way more complicated than what he hoped for when he summoned the blood demon.


End file.
